Germans Drinking Less Beer

Who could have predicted that German breweries would ever be worried about losing customers. Not me. When you think of beer, arguably German is the best for variety and flavor. Nonetheless, according to a survey by auditing firm KPMG, virtually all German breweries are expecting declining or stagnating beer sales in the near future. This follows the trend of the past decade where consumption of beer by Germans has decreased by 11 percent. Strangely, the consumption of wine during the same period has increased by 17 percent. Therefore, it appears that Germans are not drinking less alcohol in total. In fact, given the increase in wine consumption, they may be drinking more.

Two reasons are cited to explain the decrease in beer consumption. One is that the number of young people as a percentage of the population has declined and the other is a change in drink preferences. Instead of just beer, people are ordering mixed drinks such as beer with lemonade and beer with cola.

Beer with lemonade????? Um ... no thanks.